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REVIEW article

Front. Neuroanat.

Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnana.2025.1628081

This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Neuroanatomy: 2024-2025View all 4 articles

The Extracellular Matrix in Peripheral Nerve Repair and Regeneration: A Narrative Review of Its Role and Therapeutic Potential

Provisionally accepted
  • Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), University of Turin, Orbassano, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a non-cellular and gelatinous component of tissues, rich in proteins and proteoglycans, that provides information about the environment, forms a reservoir of trophic factors and regulates cell behavior by binding and activating cell surface receptors. This important network acts as a scaffold for tissues and organs throughout the body, playing an essential role in their structural and functional integrity. It is essential for cells to connect and communicate with each other and play an active role in intracellular signaling. Due to these properties, in recent decades the potential of the extracellular matrix in tissue engineering has begun to be explored with the aim of developing innovative biomaterials to be used in regenerative medicine. This review will first outline the components of the extracellular matrix in the peripheral nerve, followed by an exploration of its role in the regeneration process after injury, with a focus on the mechanisms underlying its interactions with nerve cells. Qualitative and quantitative methods used for extracellular matrix analysis will be described, and finally an overview will be given of recent advances in nerve repair strategies that exploit the potential of the extracellular matrix to enhance regeneration, highlighting the critical issues of extracellular matrix molecule use and proposing new directions for future research.

Keywords: Extracellular Matrix, Nerve injury, Nerve Regeneration, therapeutic approaches, Hydrogel, Conduits, decellularized nerves

Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Metafune, Muratori, Fregnan, Ronchi and Raimondo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Stefania Raimondo, stefania.raimondo@unito.it

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